The Downside to Brains
by Light8mare
Summary: An old enemy returns while Charlie's teaching. Cue agony and hypersensitivity.
When Charlie had woken up with a headache that morning, he'd expected it to leave quickly. It had, of course, crossed his mind that it could become a migraine, but as that hadn't happened since he was little, he'd brushed off.

Now, sitting in his classroom with his eyes shut, rubbing his head sluggishly, Charlie was regretting that. It had slowly climbed higher on the pain scale to its current point, and now Charlie wasn't sure he could properly solve an equation of any real difficulty. All his thoughts were scrambled and foggy.

"Dr. Eppes?"

His head throbs.

"Dr. Eppes, are you alright?"

Oh yeah. His students. He couldn't very well just leave them confused and worried. But to talk to them… that was not good.

"Is he sick?"

"I think his head is hurting"

"Are you stressed? Are you tired?"

"Dr. Eppes? Sir?"

It's all so much and he wants it to stop. Charlie can't do anything about it though. He's stuck.

"Turn off the lights."

At the sudden cool dimness against his eyelids, he almost sighs in relief. Maybe his posture showed something because he hears, "Yeah, I think it's a headache or something."

A hand touches his shoulder and he flinches. "Sir, can I call someone for you?" _Stop. Go away. Stop it._ His head is rolling in pain. "Can I get someone?"

He finally registers what she was saying and slowly unfolds from laying over his desk, and tugs his phone from his pocket. He makes a token effort to find Don's number, but his vision is blurred, so Charlie just passes it into the student's hands. "Don Eppes… brother…" he manages to murmur.

The girl, Savannah he believes, finds it and calls. "No, this is a student, uh. The professor, he's got like a migraine or he's sick or something. He told me to call you." Good on Savannah for recognizing it. Great girl, took initiative and such. His skull is surely bleeding, regardless of the logic. He'd probably kill for some kind of pain medication.

She eventually finishes and sets the phone by his arm. Now to wait... -with a class full of twitchy students moving around and talking. He may die first.

The more noise and stress feed his migraine, the less coherent Charlie's mind becomes. Once, when this had happened while at a store, his child self had withdrawn from the world from how overwhelmed he'd gotten. He'd stopped responding to anyone or anything, and eventually he couldn't even stand to follow where his parents lead him. After his father picked him up, he wouldn't be aware of anything till the next morning, when he'd slept it off. Charlie seemed to be rapidly approaching that level of shut down now.

._.

He didn't know how long it'd been since they left, but suddenly Charlie was aware that the noises had stopped. The classroom was empty. He wondered if that girl had done it, but that was a mystery he couldn't bear consider through the aching. Whoever had figured it out was wonderful. All the professor needed to do now was rest and wait.

It felt like an hour later, though likely closer to ten minutes, that the door opens. If Charlie had the ability, he might have hissed at the noise. He instead just shifts his head deeper into his arm nest.

The hands that lightly touch his shoulders feel like a cold jab to his mind. _Stop. Stop it._ "Come on buddy."

He recognizes Don's voice, barely, and wonders vaguely why he's here. It probably has to do with the agony in his head. Don's great like that. He's been pretty great the last few years. It's good to trust him again. When Don gently begins to pull him up, Charlie wants to protest but he figures that Don knows what he's doing, so he hands the reins over.

"C'mon. Gotta walk pal."

Yeah, walking. Walking is awful but if it will help Charlie will walk. He obediently moves his feet where Don pulls him, and flinches at the sound of the door clicking open. All the sounds are muted through whatever hold Don has him in, but it speeds up his heart as the throbbing bites into his head more vengfully. Charlie hadn't realized how much it had died down while he sat alone in the dark classroom.

"Is Dr. Eppes alright?"

 _Ah, students! They were still here?!_

"Yeah, this use to happen all the time, he'll be fine. Thanks for calling me."

The embarrassment he feels at his class seeing him like this has to go to the back burner as Don helps him stumble out of the building. After his brain's hours of self-sabotage, he just wants to sleep.

Don helps him to the passenger seat where he shuts his eyes and lays limply. The car starting and the sun's glare make it a less desirable place than his classroom, but Charlie will bear it to get home.

"You okay bud?" Don asks, presumably looking at him.

Charlie grunts. It seems to satisfy Don because he goes back to driving.

If this happened again, he might need to set up something at the school.

* * *

 **Because the universe is cruel and unusual I got a headache during writing that slowly worsened into irony. Not even half as bad as this, but it was still lousy.**

 **I might have based some of this off my brain's overreactions with anxiety and hypersensitivity to public places. Like stores. Stores are nightmares. Brick+mortar public schools are the devil's giggles.**

 **Probably a oneshot so don't expect too much. Actually, hope it is or it'll never be completed.**


End file.
